Possible fraud?

xylophone

Are you able to establish the source of the £10000 in the bank account?

It does not necessarily need to have anything to do with the house transaction - she might have sold shares or redeemed savings for example.

That said, she might have entered into some form of equity release or she might have been persuaded to sell for a derisory amount by scammers who provided the lump sum and agreed to let her continue to live there. However, if either is the case, the lack of any documentation evidencing such transactions seems very odd.

Had the insurance company been advised of any change of ownership of the property?

The other possibility is outright fraud, which according to the Land Registry site is easier to achieve when there is no mortgage on a property. http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/public/property-fraud

It is surprising who can be involved in property fraud. http://www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk/a-solicitor-bank-manager-and-land-registry-employee-colluded-to-steal-vacant-homes-from-the-elderly-cms-12357

BASFORDLAD

Hmmm it could have been a sale and let back agreement....?

keyser666

BASFORDLAD wrote: »

Hmmm it could have been a sale and let back agreement....?

That is what I s thinking

Fire_Fox

societys_child wrote: »

Exactly, there appears to 100k missing and the property belongs to someone else. I'd call that worrying.

I didn't say don't worry full stop, although to be fair the OP is neither an executor nor a beneficiary. My comment was in response to the OP worrying the solicitor is a crook. IMO that is no more and no less of a worry than the entire situation, it has no bearing on where the situation is now.

The cash AND the house are not missing, one or the other. If the new owner is deemed to have fraudulently acquired the house it should be transferred back to the original owner, in which case the lender is stuffed with no security. If the house has been sold legally the lender still has his security, it's the OPs family who are out the cash. But that is possibly legit given some equity release schemes.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4214701

maninthestreet

BASFORDLAD wrote: »

Hmmm it could have been a sale and let back agreement....?

...but the OP says they can find no evidence that their sister was paying rent to anyone....unless the missing £100,000 was 'up front' rent???

Loopgames

The missing piece to this puzzle is to source where the £10k came from.

Land_Registry

RAS wrote: »

Speak to the Land Registry in the morning (and maybe pm the LR representative who posts on here most days?)

It looks like you have already obtained the relevant and available information from the Land Registry, including details or a copy of the paperwork lodged at the time of the registration of the new owners in 2010.

Other posters appear to have covered the angles re what may or may not have happened here and provided advice re next steps etc.

However you seem to be doing all the right things and the solicitor who acted for her is likely to be crucial here both from a 'what happened and why' angle. Unpicking what has happened is likely to be difficult unless all parties are aware and willing to discuss/divulge information.

In certain circumstances the register can be corrected as explained in our Practice Guide re rectification and indemnity. However correcting the register may not be an option, as intimated by Fire Fox already, and doubtless will be something you will discuss with your solicitor.

chesneyoctopus

If there is a mortgage , who has been making the payments to the lender?

Mrs_Z

I have heard fraudsters of specifically targetting mortgage free properties. "The criminals will impersonate the property owner and contact the Land Registry with forged documents to ask them to transfer legal ownership of the property into a different name probably of the criminal or someone linked to them. The fraudsters will even try to intercept a letter from the Land Registry will requires confirmation of the change in legal title. The fraud is successfully perpetrated by the criminals with the change the name of the legal owner at the Land Registry of the property. They will then go on to sell the property or take out a mortgage on it, and then quickly disappear with all the fraud proceeds money before the true owner discovers what has been happening or could do anything about it."Could something like the above have happened to your sisters house?

Loopgames

Please let us know how you get along this is quite scary if it is indeed a fraudulent crime.

I've always assumed that if the owners hold the original deeds no one can take that away from anyone...